The invention relates generally to an electrotherapy arrangement.
A wide variety of attempts have already been made, by means of electrical current, to treat physical ailments such as pains in the neck, headache, trigeminal neurolgia, facial neuralgia, Parkinson's disease, intervertebral disc injuries, torn discs, sports injuries and the like. For example German laid-open application (DE-OS) No. 34 37 837 describes an apparatus for the electrotherapeutic self-treatment of pain and sleeplessness, which comprises a plurality of electrodes of different metals and an auxiliary battery. Such apparatuses may possible produce temporary and short-term improvements in the ailments, but a reproducible and verifiable effect has not been demonstrated in practice.
In most cases it is in fact very difficult for the electrodes to reach those areas on the surface of the skin which are suitable for passing the current to those parts in the organism at which it is to produce its healing or pain-relieving effect. In addition, the currents which can be produced by different metals and batteries flow continuously so that it is not possible to produce any stimulus effects which usually always occur due to currents which vary in respect of time.
In addition there is a fear that certain areas of tissue may suffer from toxic loading as the battery is capable of dissolving the various metals in co-operation with physiological fluids such as for example perspiration, and the resulting metal ions can be transported into the organism.
U.S. patent specification No. 4 062 364 discloses a multi-pole electrode arrangement which is capable of supplying alternating current pulses. That arrangement has one positive and for example two negative electrodes which are always simultaneously supplied with ac voltage pulses. That electrode arrangement however is also not adequately suited to hitting points (for example electro-acupuncture points) which cannot be precisely located on the surface of the skin, so that frequently the pulses are to a certain extent useless by virtue of missing the target areas. As is known, current chooses the path of least resistance so that in addition it may frequently happen that only one of the negative electrodes actually results in a flow of current while the other negative electrode carries substantially no current, because of a higher degree of resistance at the surface of the skin at the location of that electrode. At any event that arrangement does not ensure that the supply of current is exact and precise.
Another form of electrotherapy arrangement includes an electrode plate comprising a treatment electrode which is subdivided into a plurality of portions, and a base electrode; voltage pulses are sent to the individual portions of the treatment electrode from a current source by way of a switching device at the same or different times in a specific or indeterminate sequence, those pulses then being able to go to the base electrode through a body disposed therebetween. That arrangement is intended inter alia to reach areas which lie deep in the organism, even if such areas cannot be precisely located, on the basis of a `shotgun principle`. In that arrangement the base electrode is generally to be arranged at the side of the body which is opposite to the treatment electrode.
However the arrangements just discussed above do not afford the possibility of direct local treatment of individual points or locations on the surface of the skin.
Another form of electrode arrangement is referred to as an ear electrode, in which a saturated wad of cotton wool is placed in the ear canal; disposed around the ear muscles are actuatable contacts which also send pulses through the outer to the middle and inner ear on the basis of the `shotgun principle`. With the simultaneous positioning and use of two devices (one each at the right ear and at the left ear), it was also possible to produce the same above-mentioned `shotgun effect` in relation to areas lying in the interior of the head.
Mention may also be made of U.S. patent specification No. 4 558 704 disclosing an electrode arrangement which represents a substitute for numbed nerves in that current pulses are applied at given points on a body, such pulses stimulating the muscles therebeneath to perform activity. Systematic treatment of small limited areas on the basis of the above-mentioned `shotgun principle` however cannot also be achieved with that arrangement.